And so the Roland sneaks off in full view, heading unescorted to Mu Cephei. What few TCN support ships had remained at the Shipyards are no longer there, having left to help repair and reset the main fleet.Zinda grinds her teeth in her quarters.Mu Cephei Prime awaits ahead, large and silent, the former site of the Warrens still a scar visible from space.Spyboy starts pinging Elles before we even draw close.Zinda leaves her radio on to listen in.There is no response.
[OOC] Spyboy: Is Zinda spying on Spyboy? =p
[OOC] Metis: Of course.
[OOC] Zinda: Yes
[OOC] WC GM: Is Spyboy spying on Metis spying on Zinda spying on Spyboy?
[OOC] Metis: Metis doesn't spy; she just listens very effectively.
[OOC] WC GM: …and why do I feel like that should be a jan-ken-po variant?
[OOC] Spyboy: Spyboy hasn't had to work very hard to spy on Zinda lately. He just listens to Metis.
[OOC] WC GM: And Zinda is, as stated, just listening in on Spyboy.
[OOC] Abraham: And the admiral just puts his fingers in his ears.
[OOC] Metis: That plausible deniability.
[OOC] Spyboy: Well, given that neutrino comms are more like IP routing than radio broadcasts, it's kinda hard to spy without the other party knowing, as long as you know what you're doing. That said, Spyboy accepts that Metis is probably listening, and that means Zinda probably will know anything that Metis feels concerns her.
[OOC] Spyboy: i.e. everything.
[OOC] Spyboy: Yay, party openness through mutual paranoia!
[OOC] Abraham: bbiab
[OOC] WC GM: Anyway, Elles ain't talking. It's like she's not even there. What do you do?
[OOC] Metis: Apparently, I drop some eaves.
[OOC] Zinda: What are we doing here again? We sort of left the planet a husk.
[OOC] WC GM: Zinda was looking for Alfred, and Spyboy for Elles.
[OOC] Zinda: Ah, yes.
[OOC] WC GM: The likely physical location for both: at the bottom of the Warrens' former location.
[OOC] Abraham: Ah, black blood of the earth. Also, back.Spyboy calls the bridge.
Spyboy: "Admiral, this is Spyboy, requesting clearance to land a fighter on the planet."Zinda fumes while working her way to her ship.
Abraham: "Granted. Confirming Elles's status…and sanity…is important. Shall I simply presume Zinda will be the one going?"
Metis: "It is likely. I should also request clearance, probably, because the two of them alone with each other down there might not be the wisest course of action."
Spyboy: "I figure she'll be coming whether authorized or not. I remember hearing Alfred was last seen here, too."
Abraham: "…Zinda? I will not grant Metis clearance unless you are okay with it."Spyboy leans back in the EWO seat in his fighter.
Zinda: "Metis…can come."Zinda exhales.
Metis: "…so I have to request clearance from two parties… I should get extra birthday presents."
[OOC] WC GM: Logic at its finest!
Abraham: "Metis, clearance granted."
Spyboy: "[That does seem logical.]"
[OOC] Metis: Says the man not even a little bit involved.
Heggy: "You'll be getting birthday presents from us when it comes around, assuming we're in the right place."
[OOC] Spyboy: Oh, he's the uncle who's happy to spoil Metis.
[OOC] Spyboy: Especially if it annoys Zinda.
[OOC] Abraham: I suppose I'm the more distant grandfather to Metis then.Metis preps her fighter for launch.
[OOC] WC GM: So the rest of the party is taking Kali's hint: spoiling Metis then letting Zinda handle it?
[OOC] Zinda: Aww.
[OOC] Abraham: I'm not.
[OOC] Spyboy: Kali is Metis's grandmother in soooo many ways.
[OOC] Spyboy: Did I misunderstand that expogurgle, btw? Kali is Alfred's biomom, right?The flight down is unopposed. Not long ago there were billions of sentients in this space. Now it is empty, lifeless.Metis scans anyways. Even lifeless things can be interesting!Spyboy lets Heggy fly them down, and focuses on his own set of scanners.
[OOC] Spyboy: …minimally redacted set going to Metis.
[OOC] Spyboy: …The first taste is free….
[OOC] Metis: The second taste sets off the singularity?
[OOC] Spyboy: Eh, Spyboy might start charging Metis in unspecified future favors for hits off of his fighter's sensor system…
[OOC] Spyboy: But more likely he's not gonna risk it, and he'll mutter 'the second taste is free…' next time.
[OOC] WC GM: I forget if we specified who Alfred's parents were.
[OOC] Spyboy: I guess I misunderstood. I thought Kali was Alfred's mom and also taking credit for having manufactured Zinda.
[OOC] Spyboy: Actually, I understood it to be *just the former* for a long, long, long time.There is indeed lots of detail of geological reactions to internal terraforming…or perhaps Ellesforming might be more accurate in this case.
Spyboy: "I really hope that Elles is working on something and not talking to us. …Actually that worries me, too."
Spyboy: "I'm gonna leave it as 'I'm worried.'"
[OOC] WC GM: Right. So in a sense, Zinda and Alfred are sisters…but only from a certain point of view, and likely not biologically even before the campaign happened.
[OOC] Zinda: I guess, haha.Zinda lands in the bottom of the chasm and checks to see how long she has before sun exposure.
[OOC] Spyboy: In a more metaphorical sense, Metis, Spyboy, and Heggy are all Alfred's sisters, too, making this a VERY complicated family.
[OOC] Spyboy: Alfred pioneered Integration in humans; she also took the body that Elles made based on Metis' design.
[OOC] Spyboy: …And by 'pioneered' I mean 'test-piloted.'Although there is no direct evidence of drilled passages at this altitude other than what has since gone aloft, all the useful ores and fossil products have long since been excavated, and the layers compressed in a slightly unnatural way that would stand out as an anomaly if it the party was not already quite aware of what caused it.Having timed the arrival for local night, it will be several hours before takeoff is necessary.Spyboy does a wide-scattered ping of the area, looking for Alfred's transceiver.Off to the side is the remains of the tunnel Spyboy and Heggy used when last contacting Elles. It has caved in since then.
[OOC] WC GM: Neutrino transceiver or radio?
[OOC] Spyboy: Neutrino. Do I know if she has a radio?
[OOC] WC GM: You know she did have one when last seen.
[OOC] Spyboy: Got it!Spyboy sends out a radio pulse with his current location. "Alfred, please come in…"There s a faint crackle from the radio, then…Zinda frowns.
Alfred: "…there? Repeat, who's there…"
Zinda: "…Dammit Alfred why didn't you get on the resettlement ship?"
Zinda: "It's Zinda."The radio fades out, then fades back in.Zinda starts trying to triangulate the signal.
Alfred: "…you receiving…there! Tell me that's got them aligned!"
Zinda: "Zinda. Zinda. Zinda. Zinda. Zinda."The signal is coming from below - from the cores.
Alfred: "ZINDA! Finally!"Zinda starts hunting around for some biomass to jury rigger a digger.
Zinda: "Sitrep. Sitrep. Sitrep."There is no biomass here save for what the party brought with them.Spyboy triangulates on radio signal, then focuses neutrino handshakes there.
Alfred: "Short version, Elles wasn't using herself so I took over."
[OOC] Spyboy: Oh dear.
[OOC] Metis: …that bodes well.
Zinda: "I see. Well, uh, so situation normal?"
Zinda: "…Do you want a body?"
Zinda: "I can arrange you one."
Alfred: "I think you're standing on me, kinda?"
Zinda: "Yeah but like, do you want a body that isn't a planet?"
Alfred: "Oooh, but now I can cuddle you so well~!"
Zinda: "We can't exactly, uh…I mean, like this…"Zinda blushes.
Zinda: "I sort of have to run Asago. I can't spend all my time here."
Zinda: "…Did Elles leave behind her data stores?"
Alfred: "There's a manufacturing facility if I can figure out how to run it. And I need to link up that neutrino communicator."
Alfred: "They're here. I just have to get them online too."
Zinda: "The manufacturing facility shouldn't be an issue, I can probably run it."
Metis: "Relay the coordinates of the facility and we can handle it."
Zinda: "I just, uh…do you have any spare biomass down there?"
Spyboy: "So, Elles shut herself down, then?"
Alfred: "I've got carbon and nitrogen stores, but I wouldn't call them 'biomass'. But if you can eat diamonds, that's a start."
Metis: "Diamonds taste dusty. They are nutritious, though."
Alfred: "Elles's mission was complete. No more objectives. And…I think I poked her sideways, a bit, when I was in here?"
Zinda: "Poked her?"
Alfred: "Relaying coordinates to the facility now, but it's directly beneath where I'm getting your signals from."
Alfred: "Yeeeah…I kinda, well…asked her, 'what now?'"
Zinda: "Can you send any diggers up here to give us a ride? The caves are mostly collapsed."
Alfred: "In a way that got her thinking what she wanted to do for herself. I didn't know she didn't have much of a self concept!"
Zinda: "So…you killed her, is what you're saying?"
Alfred: "Oh! Oh, right, the diggers…hang on one moment, I think I can get…"
Zinda: "On accident?"
Alfred: "…yeeeah. Sorryaboutthat."
Zinda: "Well, I can't say I wasn't going to do the same thing."
Spyboy: "I'd hoped that she would come up with something for herself, but I guess not."Spyboy sighs and stares at his displays.The ground begins to rumble. In slightly over a minute, diggers breach the surface a couple meters away, then loop right back down.
Alfred: "Hehe~. I knew Zinda would be more disappointed she didn't get to do it!"Zinda starts working her way down.
Zinda: "If I'd known I'd have brought some more, uh, hardware."
Zinda: "So…you've got the planet under Oldziey control then, nominally?"
Zinda: "Hmm, but I'm not sure I want to stick another person in there…"The diggers loop around behind Zinda (and anyone else going down), and attempt to pick up for an accelerated ride down.Zinda hops on.Spyboy sighs and glares at his displays.
Zinda: "What is it, Mike?"
Alfred: "Nominally. Now I just need to get it under control."Zinda smiles at him deviously.
[OOC] Spyboy: How? She's on-planet, I'm not.
[OOC] Zinda: Oh, you're not? My bad.
[OOC] Zinda: I thought you were.
[OOC] Spyboy: Didn't land.
[OOC] WC GM: I thought you were too.
Zinda: "I mean, it's sort of a pretty dramatic piece of military hardware."
[OOC] WC GM: Still hovering in fighter, then?
Zinda: "If you think about it."
Alfred: "Yeah! Now if only it was more portable."
Zinda: "Issue is, I don't really want an AI running the show, and sticking an organic in there is kind of, well, grisly."
Zinda: "Oh, by the way, Kali's our new chief of intelligence."
Alfred: "…of course she is."
Zinda: "We had, uh, a bit of, uh…"
Spyboy: "Yep! Turns out that Zinda has no problem trusting her."
Zinda: "She's my mom, apparently?"
Zinda: "Stuff it Mike."
Zinda: "Anyways shit got weird."
Zinda: "I'll fill you in. Now, uh…any requests on the body?"
Alfred: "Wait, I thought you were created, so you didn't kinda have a mother?"
Zinda: "She was apparently in on the…wait, how'd *you* know?"
Zinda: "God dammit, did just nobody think to tell me?"
Alfred: "It never mattered?"
Zinda: "Everyone was just happy with me $going ham$ out in the field, huh?"
Alfred: "I know I was!!!" Zinda has rarely heard Alfred be that eager.
Zinda: "…Are you…OK?"Zinda frowns. This seems off.
Alfred: "I'm a planet-wide AI. I'm not sure what 'OK' is any more."
Alfred: "If you have a body design that can keep me anchored, let's do that."
Zinda: "Yeah, that seems…well, you're doing better than Kali did, but I think we need to get you a more appropriate body for your psychology before things go, uh, weird."
Zinda: "I was just gonna approximate a human….that fine?"
Zinda: "Any requests on features?"After several minutes, Zinda finally arrives at what could be the facility that constructed Metis. Or a replica of it.Zinda sighs.
Metis: "Now that input seems familiar."
Zinda: "Oooh boy, uh…"
Alfred: "Yeah. Something you won't mind seeing a lot."Zinda frowns. Without thinking too hard, she pictures a copy of Certain.
Zinda: "I, uh…alright."
Zinda: "…Hey, Abe, can you ship me down, uh…about a hundred pounds of, uh…let's say blood plasm?"Zinda returns to her ship. Maybe she has a spare slither…
[OOC] Zinda: …Personal armory stunt~?
[OOC] WC GM: That's what it's there for.
Zinda: "Sorry, Alfred, raw materials. I'm sure you understand."
Alfred: "I just got the cameras wired up. If you do whatever you're going to do down here, I get to watch in detail~!"
Abraham: "I think we have that in supply…but that's a significant percentage of our stored blood. So…why?"
[OOC] Abraham: I have no idea.
ExecutiveOfficer: "…if she just needs biological material, I can get her more than that."The XO smiles at Abraham with a gleam in his eyes.
ExecutiveOfficer: "Permission to give her the material, sir?"
[OOC] Metis: …please don't let the XO raid the waste-disposal system.
Zinda: "Making a body for Alfred."
[OOC] WC GM: That is exactly his plan, yes.
Zinda: "I need the water, mostly."
ExecutiveOfficer: "By mass, this will include that much water."
Abraham: "Ah, so you do just need biologicals then. We can get more water when we resupply. Okay, so, 90 old timely English pounds of water and…ten pounds of carbon, iron, magnesium, potassium, etc. We can do that."
[OOC] Metis: There are so, so may puns flying right now.
[OOC] WC GM: Yes there are.
Zinda: "Yeah, thanks."
Zinda: "Blood plasma is just easy to work with."Zinda leans back and waits for the supply delivery.
Zinda: "So…what's it like?"
Zinda: "Being…big."
ExecutiveOfficer: "'Shipment' away. Targeting Zinda's position."
Alfred: "A lot of exploring! I'm only running on a small fraction of what's available here. I keep finding new things."
[OOC] Spyboy: For the record, Spyboy's future plans might be morphing towards a populist uprising in Oldziey.
Zinda: "Huh, yeah?"
[OOC] Metis: Hey, don't overthrow my mom! That's just rude.
[OOC] Zinda: Rude.
[OOC] Zinda: I'm not overthrowing your government. Or really even antagonizing it more than necessary to make sure she can keep her sovereignty.
Alfred: "Yeah. Like, historical records, theoretical studies…there's so much Elles thought about but never did anything with."
[OOC] Spyboy: At this point? Spyboy doesn't believe that. Zinda seems like a power-grabbing dictator. Who has a set of understandable issues, buuuuut…
Spyboy: "Well, she had her objectives…"
Alfred: "I think that's why Elles started up the Integrated: to give some of those a vent."
Spyboy: "I'm kind of amazed she was able to do as much as she was."
Metis: "Useful information can come from disparate fields."
Alfred: "Maybe that's why she let me have it. She knew I wouldn't be limited by objectives."
Zinda: "Huh, interesting. Maybe an education base…?"
Spyboy: "Far from impossible. Organic objectives are a lot more flexible."
Alfred: "Yeah. Oh, wait, I think I found the neutri-"
Spyboy: "[Hello?]"Metis, Spyboy, and Heggy get a sudden sensation of someone looking through their eyes, hearing through their ears.
Spyboy: "[Hello, hello?]"
Spyboy: "[….Yeah, you did. Hello, Alfred.]"Meanwhile, the organic delivery finally splashes down…next to Zinda, mercifully not getting any on her.Spyboy very carefully hides that portion of his mind that has plans.
Alfred: "[So this is what it's like.]"
Zinda: "Oh god they sent me sewage"
Spyboy: "[You mean from her end?]"
Zinda: "Abe, your XO is a dick, y'know that?"
Spyboy: "[My understanding was that you got one of these implants back in the Shaft.]"Metis, Spyboy, and Heggy get multiple visual feeds - some from the cameras inside the manufacturing facility, most from what look like the cores peering at each other as they connect and disconnect.Zinda sets to….*refining* the waste matter. From a distance. With her slitherer.
Alfred: "[Yeah. This is more than that.]"
Spyboy: "[Huh. I can believe that.]"
[OOC] Metis: Fertilizer. You were sent fertilizer with which to grow a new body. Think of it like that.Fortunately, the waste matter is easily ten times the mass requested, and the siltherer does not transmit sensory information.
[OOC] WC GM: Basically.
[OOC] Metis: Given how plants live, the slitherer is probably reacting like Metis to data-flavored ice cream.
Alfred: "[Ah…here, let me dial it down…]"The visual feeds shut off, except for the manufacturing facility cameras.
Alfred: "[There. Sorry, but it's kind of a spelunker's fantasy down here.]"
Spyboy: "I totally believe you."Zinda holds her nose in the opposite corner, furiously working to cut the smell.
Zinda: "Sorry Alfred, I didn't think they'd sent me waste material. Assholes."
[OOC] Spyboy: The biggest problem with that being that she communicates with her slither by smell.
Alfred: "That's generally where waste material comes from."Spyboy laughs quietly.Fortunately, gratuitous replication using available resources does not require fine control, and soon there is a small army of slitherers and very little odoriferous material remaining.
Alfred: "So even if you make me a body, if you'll be in Oldziey how will I be with you?"
Spyboy: "How different is it thinking inside of the cores?"
Zinda: "Huh? You'll be in Oldziey, in a body."
Alfred: "…I don't know if I can measure it. I'm me, but I'm several mes or just one sometimes."
Spyboy: "…Huh. Weird."Zinda sets to turning several slithers into a copy of the download link, and one into a copy of Certain.
Alfred: "The body would be a puppet of me. I'm here. Unless you can move this planet to Oldziey? We could use it over there…"Spyboy blinks
Spyboy: "….Integrate…Oldziey….?"
Zinda: "I mean I was planning to take all of you and kind of leave Elles empty for a bit."
[OOC] WC GM: Which download link?
[OOC] Zinda: The section of the facility used to download stuff to bodies, so it could work with the biological body.
Zinda: "You…CAN leave, right?"
[OOC] WC GM: Ah. That works with mechanical bodies, not organic.
[OOC] Spyboy: Hence Michael's snide comments about Zinda's robot bunny girlfriend.
[OOC] Zinda: Yeah so she has to make her own download port.
Zinda: "I'm worried about your sanity deteriorating if you stay in there, Alfred."
Alfred: "I…don't know. I mean, I could kinda put my core self into another body, but that'd be a copy."
Zinda: "Well, can't you just copy and then delete?"
Zinda: "My main goal here is to avoid a copy of you sitting inside Elles going insane."
Alfred: "…because all my deletions before weren't by my choice."
Alfred: "I've never deleted myself willingly before."
Zinda: "I mean, you wouldn't do it until we had confirmed the copy was working."
Spyboy: "There's a difference between being killed and suicide, even if you know that another version of you lives on…"
Zinda: "No different than destructive teleportation, right?"
Alfred: "My original body? Dying when I uploaded. Then Elles booted me out - copied me out, then deleted me from in here. Then that body was wrecked when I reuploaded."
Spyboy: "….And I wouldn't willingly get into one of those."
Metis: "The problem with 'destructive teleportation' is the…destructive part."
Alfred: "So I'm already a copy of a copy of a copy."
Alfred: "But the only surviving copy."
Zinda: "So…Oh geez…"
Alfred: "This…wouldn't be like that."
Zinda: "Well, what do you want, then?"Zinda rubs her eyes.
Zinda: "Since your personality seems to be slipping, and that…well, concerns me."
Alfred: "To be with you. But also to…well…not have to kill myself on purpose."
Spyboy: "She wants a anchor that can walk around, so that she can remember what that's like."
Zinda: "Yeah, I see the issue. Uh…"
Zinda: "Well, OK, what if we do it like this."
Spyboy: "…Integration would be a possible answer…that way it's on one hand a puppet, but on the other hand a fully feeling one."
Zinda: "We'll make the copy, treat it as a distinct person from you?"
Metis: "Would it be possible to micronise the storage medium and use that as a cybernetic brain for the organic body?"
Zinda: "You'll have divergent experiences, so it makes sense."
Zinda: "Is that better?"
Zinda: "Oh geez but then we're in a, uh, a triangle, umm…"
Alfred: "NO! Err…n-no…then I'd have to share you with myself…kinda?"Spyboy thinks about Alfred's suggestion for a moment.
Spyboy: "You know, I have no idea how we could move Mu Cephei to Oldziey…"
Spyboy: "…But I know who would."
Zinda: "Yeah, yeah, moving the planet isn't the issue."
Spyboy: "And I'm feeling kind of embarrassed that it never occurred to me before."
Alfred: "Elles was trying to shrink herself when she came up with Integration. That's as far as she got."
Zinda: "…Oh, actually, Alfred?"
Spyboy: "It solves so many problems at once."
Spyboy: "…I think we might want to talk to Wayne about that…"
Zinda: "If the planet was away from the star, think we could recolonize the surface?"
Spyboy: "I think it would take a lot of work."
Alfred: "Eh? Sure, we could."
Spyboy: "But I think it would take less work than Asago."
Zinda: "Let's move it to Oldziey, then."
Zinda: "We'll need to get the Lago to sign off, though…"
Zinda: "Or, alternately, we could make it a fortress world in David."
Alfred: "Ehehe, I don't want to share you but you want to share me with all of Olziey~? I can live with that."
[OOC] Spyboy: And the populist uprising on Oldziey would be at most Spyboy's side project as he shepherds a new Integrated society in Oldziey.Zinda blushes.
Zinda: "God dammit Alfred…"
Zinda: "You're the computer, n-not the damn planet…"
Spyboy: "Everything that Elles couldn't do here can be done in Oldziey. Seems perfect to me."Zinda signs and hooks the copy of Certain up to the download port.
Zinda: "Just…just do whatever."
Alfred: "We'd have to expand the shield generators, maybe have me orbit inside the asteroid rings. I know Zinda knows why we're almost all on the asteroids but do the rest of you know?"
Zinda: "The asteroid rings are, uh, sort of gone."
Zinda: "We have a Dyson ring now."
Zinda: "And Asago, of course."The all-slitherer download port does not quite work, though there are easily salvaged components from the manufacturing plant to hook the body up.
Zinda: "Gah, dammit."
Alfred: "Oooh~. Now that I want to see!"Zinda salvages as needed.
Spyboy: "Yeah, the nephilim decided to…lend a hand…"
Zinda: "Lend a hand my ass."
Zinda: "They tried to turn my system into another Chandley."
Spyboy: "Well, I don't think it would have sent Oldziey supernova. …I don't think."
Alfred: "…"
Zinda: "Anyways, I'm not very happy with them."
Alfred: "…definitely orbit inside the rings. Keep that from happening again."
Spyboy: "That's the nephilim for you."
Zinda: "And no amount of 'goddess of destruction' flattery is gonna make me treat them with anything other than the moron gloves."Some of the diggers come up with Zinda, hauling components and helping with assembly. Without very detailed scans, it is not certain how much of the result is organic and how much is mechanical, but eventually the Certain-alike opens her eyes and takes breath.
Zinda: "Uh…OK, keep it steady there…"
Zinda: "How's it feel?"
AlfredViaRadio: "Give me a moment…keep having to get used to new bodies…"The new body flexes her fingers, then each of her major muscles, testing them out.Spyboy scans through feeds - it's not easy - to find one that looks on the Alfredbody.Spyboy's fighter is hovering over where Zinda has been doing the assembly. He has a ringside seat, and his fighter's sensors - designed for accurate scans over far larger distances - are delivering a data stream so intense, a stray analogy offers itself up: whether Metis would react to this like how someone with a sweet tooth might find pure raw sugar to be too sweet.
[OOC] WC GM: Or in short: actually it is easy.
Spyboy: "Huh. …Wait."
Spyboy: "Zinda…."
Zinda: "Huh? Yeah?"
[OOC] Zinda: Let them meet.
Spyboy: "…Is there a reason she really reminds me of a certain TCS pilot?"
[OOC] Zinda: Dammit.
[OOC] Spyboy: Sorry!
Zinda: "You're imagining stuff."
Spyboy: "….Oh, really."
Zinda: "Yeah."
Spyboy: "Well, I have to admit that my training won't let a blackmail opportunity like this slide."
AlfredViaRadio: "So, I think I may be the first person to be able to say this, but…waking up in a new body…"
[OOC] Zinda: Also, has Spyboy met Certain in person?Alfred's new body clumsily sits up. "…is like riding a bicycle."
Zinda: "Being human feel good again? It's, uh, not quite perfect."Zinda helps her up.
[OOC] Spyboy: That's….actually a good question, but the chances that he doesn't have the dossier of someone who works so closely with someone who has identified himself as Spyboy's romantic rival is pretty much 0%.
AlfredInBody: "It'll do."
[OOC] Spyboy: Whether he was supposed to have said dossier or not.
[OOC] Zinda: Dossier photo is one thing, watching someone move is another.
[OOC] Spyboy: This is true.
[OOC] WC GM: Most likely, Spyboy saw the video from when Certain visited the Roland.
Zinda: "Come on, let's get you to Sterne Lanze. I think I have a spare flight suit."
[OOC] Metis: Wait, why don't we have animated hologram dossiers now?
[OOC] Spyboy: Because Metis doesn't have that kind of pull. Yet.
[OOC] Zinda: Well, Alfred's boobs are a bit bigger. : P
[OOC] Zinda: Because Zinda is a pervert.
[OOC] WC GM: Because Wing Commander. Hologram displays aren't exactly common.
[OOC] WC GM: Alfred expressly wanted a body Zinda would be comfortable with.
[OOC] Zinda: Yep.Alfred stumbles twice en route to the Sterne Lanze, but seems to be mostly coordinated by the time she gets there.
AlfredViaRadio: "Alright, that's that. But how's this body going to keep going on the other side of the jump point?" The radio is still coming from the planet, though the signal has boosted by now.
AlfredInBody: "Actually…I'm kind of in here now…"
Spyboy: "It's going to have problems well before the jump point, when the lightspeed…"
AlfredViaRadio: "YI! Wh…but…"
Spyboy: "….Great."
Zinda: "So, uh…"
Zinda: "You're going to work something out?"
AlfredViaRadio: "Integrating now."Zinda rubs her temples. Girls, man, girls…Alfred's new body slumps, but for less than a minute. "There. Remote control established."
AlfredInBody: "For a moment it felt like there were two of me."Alfred looks at Zinda. "I do not want to fight myself for you."
Zinda: "I, uh…that's good."
Zinda: "…Did you just kill one of yourself?"Alfred smiles and shrugs. "I am myself. You wanted me to not fragment, so…"Spyboy sighs.
Spyboy: "That sounds…kind of like an objective…"
Zinda: "Please, umm…Oooh, geez…"
[OOC] WC GM: Spyboy's getting a voice feed from inside the Sterne Lanze's cockpit? Or trying to observe via neu-comm feed from Alfred's new body?
[OOC] Spyboy: Yes to both?
Zinda: "We'll…have to talk about this, going forward."
[OOC] Metis: Spyboy's always been an 'all of the above' kind of guy.
[OOC] Spyboy: Zinda keeps leaving her wireless unsecured. It's kinda his job to make sure that nobody else can get in.
[OOC] Spyboy: Also, Zinda said her neutrino transceiver was on, earlier. She never said she turned it off.
[OOC] WC GM: Fair enough.
[OOC] Spyboy: Also, the radio feed is largely omnidirectional.
[OOC] Spyboy: And like Metis said, Spyboy's pretty much been an 'all of the above' kinda guy.Alfred looks into Zinda's eyes, her own eyes smiling with mischief. "My 'objective' is Zinda."Zinda flicks off the radio.
Zinda: "I, uh…I see."Zinda gulps.
[OOC] WC GM: Are either Spyboy or Metis thinking about how to get Alfred's body able to still act on the far side of the jump point?
[OOC] WC GM: There are multiple solutions possible.
[OOC] Spyboy: Well.
[OOC] Spyboy: Kali knows how.
[OOC] Spyboy: So does Wayne.
[OOC] Metis: ^
[OOC] WC GM: Correct. Going to suggest that ICly?
[OOC] Spyboy: And Spyboy's already got Wayne on the list of possible destinations.
[OOC] Metis: I mean, why reinvent the trans-lightspeed wheel?
Spyboy: "Alfred, how long can your meatbody survive on-planet, in the state the planet is in?"
Spyboy: "And will you have…control issues…if it gets taken to one of the stations in the Constellation?"
Alfred: "There's no food on the planet, but I could set up an IV drip with water and sugar. Elles actually tried that with a lago, once; human biology should be about the same, so about a month."
Spyboy: "Ah. Well, keep in mind that since the whole point of having a body is that you'll feel what it feels like, that's gonna suck."
Alfred: "If you take this body through a jump point…I can try to set it up so it'll just be in a coma, instead of completely braindead."
Zinda: "…Can you set it back up how it was earlier?"Alfred FROWNS.
Spyboy: "If she wants to split her mind again and fight each other over you?"
Alfred: "Not. Happening."
Spyboy: "Probably."
Spyboy: "That said…"Spyboy hesitates for a moment
Zinda: "OK, Alfred, really, can't you like…cut instead of copy?"
Spyboy: "Kali said that Wayne knows how to break the light-lag barrier."
Spyboy: "No."
Spyboy: "That's copy-then-delete."
[OOC] Zinda: Zinda knows this but sighs.
Spyboy: "It's the fundamental paradox of digital security. You cannot take something without leaving it behind, which means you don't know it's been taken."
Alfred: "He's right. There's copy, there's delete…and that's really it."
Metis: "Correct. You cannot 'move' active files. And rendering the files inactive is… I will choose 'traumatic' as the word."
[OOC] Zinda: …What if, uh…the copy executes the delete?
Zinda: "What if, uh, the copy executes the delete?"
[OOC] Spyboy: Then it's murder. Which isn't impossible under the circumstances. =pAlfred smiles wanly. "Metis, you chose correctly."
Alfred: "Then I'm killing myself."Spyboy coughs and doesn't look at any video pickups
Metis: "Or whoever is copying is killing the source."
Alfred: "And if I didn't resist I'd call myself insane."
Spyboy: "I guess Zinda doesn't trust Kali as much as she'd like to admit~"
Zinda: "So…OK, let's try this, uh…can you scale down whichever nodes you occupy into a brain?"
Zinda: "So it's not a delete?"Spyboy wonders, idly, what it's like to be running on a networked platform that comes un-networked.Alfred shakes her head. "Those nodes and brains are…very different. I saw some of Elles's notes on Metis's brain."
Spyboy: "[Heggy, boost for the Roland, would you? I want to talk to Abraham about paying a visit to Wayne.]"
Spyboy: "[…I may have to get into a direct competition with Kali after all.]"
Alfred: "She's actually a research project Elles had been thinking about for decades."
Metis: "Transportation of the storage medium, or a hot swap, are theoretically possible, though transportation of the storage medium is also somewhat traumatic as it almost requires detachment from useful peripherals and there is a risk of losing data integrity."
Metis: "Some of these problems should be solvable, but these are new situations and will require new solutions."
Zinda: "So…Let me get this straight. You don't want to die, which is what a deletion would constitute."
Zinda: "So, in effect, you are stuck inside a planetary core."Alfred lays a hand on Zinda's shoulder. "If you want to make this move like the other moves?"
Alfred: "You'd have to blow up the planet."Zinda blushes furiously.
Alfred: "I know you'd move mountains for me, but…"
Zinda: "I…guess we'll just move you to Oldziey and make you minister of defense, then…u-umm…."Zinda gulps as alfred continues to move her moves.
Zinda: "M-maybe we should d-d-d-dock first, I-I hear beds are uh…"
[OOC] Zinda: Zinda is weak on defense.Alfred slowly slips a hand past Zinda and, if not stopped, flicks on the Sterne Lanze's autopilot, sending it to dock with the Roland - though Spyboy reaches the Roland first.Zinda gulps and fiddles for the comms.
[OOC] Zinda: To turn them off.Heggy unbuckles her seatbelt, reaches back, and smacks Spyboy upside the head.Spyboy blinks
[OOC] Zinda: Zinda turns off all the transmitty stuff.
Spyboy: "That works."
[OOC] Zinda: I don't think Spyboy would have a view. :/
Spyboy: "Yyyyeah, it's really hard to disengage from a planet…"
[OOC] WC GM: Pun intended?
[OOC] Spyboy: ….not really.
[OOC] WC GM: Aww. :P
[OOC] Spyboy: I know.
[OOC] WC GM: So, fast forward to Spyboy, Abraham, and maybe Metis on bridge?
[OOC] Abraham: Sure.
Spyboy: "…So, yeah. That's why we'd like to head to Collins before we head back to Terra."
Spyboy: "Also, if we can get access to Wayne's communications technology, then Heggy can poll the Integrated lagos."
Abraham: "That seems reasonable. I'll let Paladin know that there will be a delay before we meet up with him again, and if we're done here we can go see Wayne. Anything else we need to do here now?"
ExecutiveOfficer: "There's a request to transfer one person to the Shipyards, but other than that we're clear to go."
ExecutiveOfficer: "A shuttle's already inbound to pick her up."
Spyboy: "May I ask who?"
ExecutiveOfficer: "Our new, jump-point-phobic passenger. Apparently that's the agreement she reached with Zinda."
Spyboy: "Ah."
ExecutiveOfficer: "Course plotted. Do we have permission to proceed to Collins, sir?"
Abraham: "Permission granted. Let's get underway."
ExecutiveOfficer: "Yes, sir!"The trip through Sommers is uneventful. But the moment the Roland jumps into Armstrong…
ExecutiveOfficer: "…uhh, sir? Getting requests for a press conference."
Spyboy: "Of course."
ExecutiveOfficer: "They want to hear your comment about the fleet, and they're starting to find out that Chandley's traversible."
[OOC] Spyboy: I just had a terrible thought. Spyboy as press secretary. *shudder*
ExecutiveOfficer: "I've told them we're en route to Chandley. They want you to speak while we're in transit."
ExecutiveOfficer: "What do we tell them?"
Abraham: "Yes I suppose that needs to be dealt with sooner or later. Well…this is communication, of a form. Spyboy do you feel like playing press agent?"
[OOC] WC GM: Giving the GM ideas is one thing. Giving your fellow players an idea is another. ;)
[OOC] Abraham: I was typing my line before PD's showed up on my screen.
[OOC] WC GM: Ah, synchronicity.
[OOC] Abraham: And this is how the mutiny on The Roland began…not with Zinda, but with Spyboy.
[OOC] Zinda: Pretty much.
[OOC] WC GM: Ren/JD: given the time, if you need time to think up the formal statement that would be given, we can break here and start with that next session. ICly you would likely have anticipated the press request and thus had some time to think up a good statement. Even if you didn't, transit across Armstrong is not instantaneous, so you have some hours in-system.
[OOC] Abraham: Spyboy, please issue this press release to the major news agencies: "Ba wep granab wep nimibon."
[OOC] Spyboy: Works for me.